Will Bitcoin Have Its Moment in the Trump Era?

Michael J Casey works on blockchain-based solutions for the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT Media Lab. He is also a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and the author of several books including “The Age of Cryptocurrency“, which he authored with Paul Vigna.

Here, Casey examines how bitcoin might fare under the an administration soon to be overseen by noted, and controversial, entrepreneur Donald Trump.

History tells us that no international monetary system lasts forever. And as Barry Eichengreen, the leading thinker in this arena, has repeatedly reminded us, those systems tend to collapse very quickly, whether it was the dominance of Rome’s coins, the British pound’s status as the common unit of international trade, or the various periods in which the world aligned around the gold standard.

The same will be true for the dollar’s unofficial status as the international reserve currency. Its hegemony will at some point disappear and, when it does, the fall will be swift as the world scrambles for a new commercial anchor.

Below I will make the case that the trigger for this decline, whether it happens in the next four years or not, could well have been put